David Trenholm

At MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, the energy was unmistakable. With thousands of supply chain professionals gathered, one theme echoed across conversations: uncertainty is no longer episodic. It’s constant and seemingly endless. In a candid discussion with Scott Luton, Pete Blair, VP of Product & Marketing at Pickle Robot, unpacked how organizations are navigating volatility, workforce challenges, and the growing role of automation in keeping operations moving.   Navigating Tariffs and a Moving Target If there’s one word defining today’s global supply chain environment, it’s unpredictability. Blair points to tariffs as a prime example; and not just their presence, but their volatility. “The biggest thing we see… is the chaos of tariffs. It’s not so much that customers have to pay tariffs or not pay tariffs, it’s that they don’t know how to plan,” Blair explains. That lack of predictability is forcing organizations to rethink their networks in real time. Companies are shifting sourcing strategies, standing up temporary distribution centers in new geographies, and even making drastic decisions about whether importing goods makes financial sense at all. What’s particularly challenging isn’t the cost itself. But rather, it’s the inability to forecast. Supply chains, while resilient, aren’t designed for abrupt swings like…

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now. On Monday, we released 2 new episodes! On this episode of Digital Transformers, produced in partnership with TNS, host Kevin L. Jackson welcomes Praveen Rao, Managing Director with IBM, to the podcast. On This Week in Business History, host Scott W. Luton relates true stories marking notable anniversary dates this week, including the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the first Chevy Corvette to be produced in 1953, & more! On Tuesday, we released an episode of TEK TOK! In this episode, host Karin Bursa dives into 6 strategies that supply chain innovators are doing now to become more resilient. On Wednesday’s episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton and Kelly Barner, Host of Dial P for Procurement, dive into the friction between North Face and the oil and gas industry – an industry that supplies the substance and materials North Face needs to make its products. Despite this, North Face is concerned with protecting their brand from the potential damage of publicly associating with oil and gas, leaving them in a tough spot with regard to their supply…